Conservative candidate wins Polish presidential election

Topic: polish elections

The 8-9 July NATO summit in Warsaw was clearly a success for the alliance, in light of rising tensions with Russia. However, Polish politicians are set to use it as another pretext for infighting, exacerbating internal divisions within the country. EurActiv Poland reports.

Poland's eurosceptic government has long said it would like Poles living in Britain to return home, but it is now promising to fight for their right to stay after the British vote to leave the European Union.

Following the Law and Justice (PiS) party's victory in the 2015 elections, conspiracy theories resurfaced in Poland about the 2010 Smolensk crash, which killed President Lech Kaczyński, the brother of the new ruling party's chief, Jaroslaw Kaczyński. EurActiv Poland reports.

While the recently-elected right wing Law and Justice Party [PiS] is taking advantage of its parliamentary majority to undermine Poland’s constitutional order and increase control over public media, it will fade into insignificance even faster than its predecessors, writes Andrzej Ancygier.

Council President Donald Tusk and the Polish President Andrzej Duda urged calm on Monday (18 January) after the EU launched an unprecedented probe to determine if controversial legal changes in Poland violated democratic norms.

One could be critical of the Polish government’s actions, and one could disagree with them. But it’s a completely different thing to call them undemocratic, Piotr Maciej Kaczy?ski told EurActiv in an exclusive interview.

Polish President Andrzej Duda yesterday (7 January) signed into law a controversial bill handing the conservative government control of state media, despite EU concern and condemnation from rights watchdogs.

Polish President Andrzej Duda will visit Brussels on 18 January following a planned European Commission debate on the rule of law in Poland, whose government has sparked concern by pushing through controversial changes to the judiciary and media.

The European Commission sent a letter to two Polish ministers yesterday (30 December) expressing concern over a proposed law on control of the country's state-run media, a spokesman for the EU executive said, another sign of disquiet in Brussels over Poland's new political path.

The European Union warned eastern European powerhouse Poland to avoid endangering the rule of law with controversial reforms that former president Lech Wa??sa said undermined democracy and made the country a laughing stock.

Poland's lower chamber of parliament passed a constitutional court law amendment yesterday (22 December) that the supreme court and activists said would undermine the separation of power and paralyse the constitutional court.

European Parliament chief Martin Schulz yesterday (14 December) compared the political situation in Poland to a "coup", drawing the anger of the Polish government which is locked in a battle against the country's top court.

Journalists gathered yesterday (24 November) in the press room of Poland's new conservative government discovered that the blue and gold star-studded European Union flag normally on display was gone, leaving only its red-and-white Polish counterpart.

The Eurosceptic Law and Justice party (PiS) has become the first party to win an outright majority in the Polish parliament since the fall of communism in 1989, official results showed on Tuesday (27 October).

Poland's eurosceptic Law and Justice party (PiS) claimed victory on Sunday (25 October) in a watershed election that risks putting the ex-Communist state on a collision course with key European Union allies.

Two new polls in Poland yesterday (22 October) showed diverging trends in the popularity of the frontrunning, nationalist-minded opposition before the Sunday (25 October) parliamentary election, heightening uncertainty about the shape of the next government and Warsaw's ties with EU neighbours.

Beating drums, miners parade a coffin for Poland's centrist government through the gritty streets of Ruda Slaska, a mining town left behind by a quarter century of explosive growth since Communism's demise.

The likely winner of Poland's 25 October parliamentary election called yesterday (13 October) for a renegotiation of a climate deal agreed last year by the European Union, saying the country needed more coal-based power stations.

In the past few years the Polish city of Rybnik has acquired a new shopping mall and its tenement blocks have been spruced up with European money, yet residents are no longer prepared to give their government credit for the changes.

The Polish opposition party Law and Justice (PiS) wants to introduce Hungarian-style special taxes on banks and supermarkets if it comes to power, a close adviser to the party leader was quoted as saying today (16 June).

Federica Mogherini said yesterday (25 May) that the results of the presidential election in Poland, the municipal elections in Spain, as well as the news from Greece and the UK, were a reason for the EU to re-think its project.

Polish President Bronis?aw Komorowski conceded defeat to conservative challenger Andrzej Duda in Sunday's presidential election, a result that will set alarm bells ringing for the government, which faces its own election race later this year.